They didn’t need to look far to find Daith. In fact, he was on his way back when they ran into him.
“You’re ok!” He exclaimed as soon as he saw his sister, and ran up to her, only to be pushed aside. “Of course I am,” She glared at him. “Are you a fool, leaving a wounded man alone in the forest? What was going through your mind?” She snapped, pointing at Ash. “At least tell me you found somewhere safe for us to rest.”
Daith’s worried expression turned into a tired smile. “Yeah, I did.”
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What the younger prince had found was a cave, which he had spent a few minutes warding to keep hidden from prying eyes. Once the three of them stepped inside, he paused a moment to activate the wards. The golden light of his mana shone around the cave entrance before vanishing fully. Ash wondered whether the spell had worked or not. How would he know without seeing the mana?
All these questions vanished from his mind as soon as the princess touched his forehead again, allowing all the pain to return. He moaned and collapsed on the ground.
“What was that for?!” Daith asked as he helped Ash sit down with his back against the moss-covered cave wall.
“I need all my mana to heal him properly.” She replied as she sat cross legged in front of him. “Guard the entrance, Daith. I don’t want them to find us.”
The young prince let out a sigh. “They won’t, don’t worry.” He still took a few steps towards the entrance, just to appease his sister.
The princess reached for Ash’s leg, pressing both her palms against the wound. He winced but bit his tongue and stayed silent. Golden mana spread throughout her body, concentrating around her hands. Golden threads slowly wove an intricate pattern over the wound which then sank into his flesh. The wound slowly began to heal.
“How did you two get out of the explosion so quickly?” She absentmindedly asked as her mana continued to flow into the wound. The warmth of her mana was soothing, but her cold voice had quite the opposite effect.
Daith hesitated. “Ash noticed… something.” He said, shooting the young man a glance. “How did you know we needed to get away from the cart? I’ve been wondering it for a while too.”
Ash scowled. “What do you mean? Didn’t you see what the creature was doing?” Daith was trying to attack the wolf-bat hybrid at the time, so he had to have seen it. But the prince only looked at him with confusion. “The thing it did – all that power in its throat? I thought it was about to breathe fire like a dragon or something.” Ash tried to explain. Had he imagined all that? He couldn’t have!
“It decided to blow the convoy up instead.” The princess said as she pulled her hands away from his leg. “Your arm, I need to push the bone back in place before I can start healing it.” She said as she reached for his arm. Without even waiting for acknowledgment, she twisted his arm back into proper place, ignoring Ash’s pained cry. It took a few minutes and a lot of healing before he could gather the strength to speak again.
“All done.” She said a few minutes later, then stood up. “Now describe exactly what you saw.”
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The Inquisitor’s office was slightly more crowded than before. His wife was there, and so was his old mentor. Kira was standing next to the door, deliberately not looking at anyone at the room. Instead, she inspected her nails carefully.
“You can’t do that,” Alarien cut off Professor Maple’s extremely long winded explanation of what actually was a rather simplistic plan. "Enchantments don’t work like that.”
“Why not?” The professor asked. “You can find a missing person using a strand of hair, you should be able to find the burial grounds by using this tablet.”
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Alarien rolled her eyes. “I would find where this tablet was created, I would find the rocks which were cut into this shape. Not the burial grounds, it would lead me to what is still close to nature.” She let out a sigh. “I’m sorry professor, I know you really want to find those burial grounds, but enchantment magic simply doesn’t work this way.” She glanced at the Inquisitor. “I’ll be going back home, Victor. I’ll check the tomes, just in case, but have no hope.”
The Inquisitor nodded. They waited for her to leave the room before Professor Maple spoke up once more. “I think it can be done.” He stated stubbornly.
Victor let out a sigh. “Just drop it, Professor. I’ll learn where the burial grounds are once I catch that thief. So just wait, will you?”
Professor Maple folded his arms. “You don’t understand, Victor. When you find them, the Emperor, may he be blessed, will order their destruction. I must study those burial grounds before they are destroyed forever.”
“To what end?” Kira spoke up. “They contain Duskborn remains. Skeletons, I am sure. It was many centuries ago when they were buried there. What will you learn from a bunch of bones? Is it worth the Emperor’s wrath?”
Professor Maple raised his chin. “Centuries ago, when humanity and the Duskborn made peace, both of our people flourished. Our knowledge combined is what we need to discover the secrets of the wall, of this dome, and of the Spire of Kindling. Of course such knowledge is worth drawing the ire of the Emperor, may he be blessed.”
Victor said nothing. He couldn’t, as an Inquisitor. But as Maple’s student, he couldn’t agree more. A wealth of knowledge could be hidden in those burial grounds. It would be just as great of a crime to destroy them as it would be to allow the Duskborn worshippers to take control of them.
Kira rolled her eyes, then turned her attention back to her nails.
Sometimes, when she acted so disinterested in more knowledge, Victor desperately wanted to know more about her. She was from distant lands, she had shared that much, but aside from saying she was from beyond the Crimson Sands, he knew next to nothing about her.
Could it be that she knew something about the Duskborn that she chose not to share? Doubt gnawed at the back of his mind as he turned his attention to the map Maple had brought. “Well, let’s find the damn place first. Then we can figure out a plan of action.”
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The night was cold, and the damp air within the cave wasn’t helping at all. The only thing stopping the three of them from freezing was the small fire the princess had lit. The magical flame produced no smoke, and less heat than a normal campfire would.
While the two royal siblings talked in low voices, Ash used his somewhat torn cloak as a blanket, and laid down on a bed of dried moss. While it was certainly not comfortable, he was too exhausted to really care. His eyelids soon grew heavy as his mind drifted off to a deep slumber.
Come morning, they snuffed out the magical flame, and set off. The princess believed there were plenty of survivors from that explosion – it was focused on the cart and the second carriage, she claimed.
“How did you survive that anyways?” Prince Daith asked as they walked through the woods. Now that the Spire of Kindling was illuminating the world with its golden, life-giving light, their walk was a comfortable one. Apparently, the corrupted beasts couldn’t survive in the light of the Spire.
“I shielded myself.” The princess said with a blank expression. “I was about the kill the damn thing too before it decided explosions were the answer.” She folded her arms. “What I don’t understand, my dear brother, is how you weren’t even prepared to shield yourself.”
Prince Daith awkwardly chuckled. “Well…”
“I mean, an untrained commoner saved you!” The princess exclaimed, pointing at Ash. “How careless can you be?!”
“Aoife…” Prince Daith cried out. “Please, come on. I was trying to cast a protective spell, to keep everyone safe. I couldn’t just let him die while he was right next to me!” He looked at Ash with pleading eyes. At the same time, Princess Aoife also glared at Ash. Her golden gaze was filled with a threat – tell the truth, or else!
“Wasn’t that before it screeched and destroyed your spell?” Ash made a circular motion with his hands. “You know, with the waves it sent out…”
Daith’s eyes shot wide open while Aoife raised a single eyebrow. “Your spell was destroyed?”
“You saw my spell too?!” Prince Daith exclaimed in an attempt to distract his sister, but Princess Aoife’s smirk only widened. “That creature wasn’t even particularly powerful.”
Daith clenched his fists in frustration. “Well why didn’t you kill it then!?”
The princess smiled. “I did, after the explosion.”
The two of them continued to bicker until they made it back to the stone paved road. Once they left the woods and stepped onto the road, their voices died down. Just down the road, they could see what remained of the convoy – two charred skeletons of the carriages, and a single wheel of the transport cart. The broken and shattered skeletons of the horses remained, albeit somewhat charred.
Princess Aoife clenched her fists. Her golden gaze was filled with anger as she glared at the remains of the horses. “No one set them free.” Her voice was rung with sorrow.
Ash scowled as they approached what remained of the convoy. The ground was covered in dried blood, a few weapons had fallen into the mud. But there was something missing. “Where are the bodies?” He asked after a few moments, as grim of a question as it was. “I saw people die. Where are they?”